As of late September 2026, the fire ants in my Houston yard are back to building, and my reflex hasn’t changed in years. Boil the biggest pot in the kitchen, dump it dead center on the mound, watch it go quiet. On a bad day, the gas can from the mower. Either way, I walked off thinking the colony was done.
Here in Texas, the timing isn’t my imagination. The Harris County AgriLife Extension office says: “The months from April through July and late September through October usually presents ideal conditions for fire ants to work their mounds and cause problems for anyone who ventures outside.” The same page names late April and May, and again late September and October, as the best times in the Houston area to put out fire ant baits. So this is the season to get it right, not just fast.
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What Texas A&M AgriLife says
AgriLife’s fire ant project has tested my kettle method: “Pouring 2 to 3 gallons of very hot or boiling water on the mound will kill ants about 60% of the time.” The same page says very hot or boiling water will kill the grass or surrounding vegetation it is poured on. That’s a lot of boiling water per mound for a result that isn’t a sure thing, and a dead patch of lawn either way.
Why the colony survives
AgriLife’s two-step guide explains what has to happen: the mound treatment must kill the queen or queens, otherwise the colony will survive. The Harris County office adds that a large percentage of the mounds in Texas have multiple queens, with no territorial behavior, and that when using single mound treatments, you only treat the mounds you see…